News

With the U.S. economic conditions steadily showing improvements, marketing to U.S. Regional Interests via Google’s Trends data helps to answer a prevailing question – “are more people interested in “apartments for rent” or “houses for rent”? Legend: Apartments for Rent (blue) Houses for Rent (red) From 2004 to 2013, both U.S. based keyword searches “apartments […]

…or your next marketing meeting! In the MyNewPlace marketing team, we want to be prepared for anything that comes up in the office. Our fearless leader, however, is more concerned about the threat of zombies…and corny jokes. Thus, when we had a few extra dollars to spend on in-office supplies–only $5 per person, in fact–we […]

Welcome to our new blog home! The MyNewPlace blog is launching under a new name (LocalTalk) and a new URL (localtalk.mynewplace.com). Why the change? We wanted to focus on what’s local, whether that means in your apartment, at your property, or in your city. We’ll continue to look at new ways to enjoy home life […]

When choosing topics to cover in my new fair housing book, a common practice known as “steering” easily made it to the top of my list. Why? Most landlords and tenants know that turning away an apartment applicant based on a protected characteristic such as race, religion, or disability is illegal. But not everyone realizes that […]

If you are one of many people living in America living without a carbon monoxide detector, read on! Why…why…why…why…why… Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, tasteless, invisible gas that can, highly concentrated, kill you in one go or, in lower concentrations, harm you over time. In other words, it’s a poisonous gas that […]

There are lots of scary things out there, especially if you’re living in a big American city. Bed bugs, scabies, little crumbs that will keep you up all night like the Princess and the Pea. While I’m not advocating that you become a total hypochondriac/agoraphobe/clean freak/freak show. But if you want to keep creepy crawlies […]

Feeling like you’re living in a horror movie every time you go to pee in the middle of the night. Take action: WD-40 Your Squeaky Hinges Anyone with a basic knowledge of fixing things will probably tell you that WD-40 will fix most squeaky things. For example, when I was a kid, we […]

Look at you trying to be a Real Adult. Life is post-college, you have a job that you can’t schedule around Friday hangovers caused by Thursday night beer pong, and you feel like you shouldn’t be totally mortified if you actually manage to bring someone home who seems sophisticated enough to wash her dishes more […]

Happy New Year! This holiday always presents a good opportunity to take a break and look back on the past year. At MyNewPlace, we’re thinking about all the apartment news of the past year… and the advice that we’ve given you. I want to share few of my favorite articles with you; check them out […]

I once had neighbors whose kids screamed every morning, like clockwork, at 5:30 a.m. Conversely, they felt it was unreasonable for us to play acoustic guitar in our apartment at 8 p.m. Sometimes, you just can’t win. What you can do is learn from my mistakes, and keep things civil instead of losing it one day and […]